ROME -- An Italian expert in Hebrew manuscripts said Wednesday he had discovered the oldest known complete Torah scroll, a sheepskin document dating from 1155-1225. It was right under his nose, in the University of Bologna library, where it had been mistakenly catalogued a century ago as dating from the 17th century.

The find isn't the oldest Torah text in the world: Both the Leningrad and the Aleppo bibles -- both of them Hebrew codexes, or books -- pre-date the Bologna scroll by more than 200 years. But this is the oldest Torah scroll of the Pentateuch, the first five books of Moses, according to Mauro Perani, a professor of Hebrew in the University of Bologna's cultural heritage department.

Such scrolls -- this one is 36 metres (40 yards) long and 64 centimetres (25 inches) high -- are brought out in synagogues on the Sabbath and holidays and portions are read aloud in public.

Perani was updating the library's Hebrew manuscript catalogue when he stumbled upon the scroll in February. In a telephone interview Wednesday, Perani said he immediately recognized the scroll had been wrongly dated when the last catalogue was completed in 1889, because he recognized that its script and other graphic notations were far older.

He said it was "completely normal'' for such mistakes to have been made in the late 1800s, given the "science of manuscripts was not yet born.''

Two separate carbon-dating tests, performed by the University of Salento in Italy and the Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, confirmed the revised dating, according to a statement from the University of Bologna.

Outside experts said the finding was important even though older Hebrew bibles do exist.

"It is fairly big news,'' said James Aiken, a lecturer in Hebrew and Old Testament studies at Cambridge University. "Hebrew scholars get excited by very small things, but it certainly is important and clearly looks like a very beautiful scroll.''

Giovanni Garbini, a leading expert on ancient Semitic languages and retired professor at Rome's La Sapienza university, however, said the discovery doesn't change much about what the world knows about Hebrew manuscripts.

"It's an example of an ancient scroll, but from the point of view of knowledge, it doesn't change anything,'' he said in a phone interview.

Also on The Huffington Post

Close



Unearthed

of





An extraordinarily well-preserved woolly mammoth uncovered in Siberia was revealed to the public for the first time this week in Japan. While the baby female is not the first mammoth to be recently dug up in the remote region of Russia, what makes this find so special is the extent to which the animal's carcass is still intact. (Photo: ITN)
Read more here

Archaeologists say they have discovered some of the world's oldest known primitive writing, dating back about 5,000 years, in eastern China, and some of the markings etched on broken axes resemble a modern Chinese character. (AP)
Read more here

Two marine researchers kayaking in the Florida Keys on the Fourth of July came across a surprising find: a piece of space junk launched from over 2,000 miles away. (Photo: National Park Service)
Read more here

A Canadian couple who unearthed the ancient skeleton of an aboriginal woman may also have to foot the thousands of dollars it cost to excavate the historical remains. (Photo: Nicole Sauve)
Read more here

A lost medieval city that thrived on a mist-shrouded Cambodian mountain 1,200 years ago has been discovered by archaeologists using revolutionary airborne laser technology, a report said. (Getty)
Read more here

A British museum on Monday successfully recovered a German bomber that had been shot down over the English Channel during World War II. The aircraft, nicknamed the Luftwaffe's "flying pencil" because of its narrow fuselage, came down off the coast of Kent county in southeastern England more than 70 years ago during the Battle of Britain. (AP)
Read more here

The U.S. government has recovered 400 pages from the long-lost diary of Alfred Rosenberg, a confidant of Adolf Hitler who played a central role in the extermination of millions of Jews and others during World War Two. (Getty)
Read more here

As it turns out, the gold coloring was actually gold, the coin was an ancient Roman solidus, and there were 158 more buried with it, a hoard with an estimated worth of 100,000 pounds sterling, or $156,000, according to The Daily Mail. (AP)
Read more here

Two 400-year-old warships that sank in the Pacific Ocean after being attacked by a Dutch admiral and pirates may once again see land if researchers in Peru successfully raise them. (Getty)
Read more here

Not one, not two, but the remains of potentially three Triceratops have been unearthed near Newcastle, Wyo. -- and one just may be the most complete skeleton ever found of the horned dinosaur. (Photo: Esther Herberts/Naturalis)
Read more here

Hungarian authorities evacuated around 1,000 people on Thursday after an unexploded World War II shell was discovered embedded in the roof of Budapest's city hall. (Gettystock)
Read more here

Villagers installing a water pipe in southwestern Mexico stumbled onto an ancient granite statue depicting a player from a pre-Hispanic ball game, the national anthropology institute said Monday. (Photo: INAH)
Read more here

In this undated image made available on Thursday May 16, 2013 show coins from Bohemia, Germany, Denmark and England discovered during an archaeological dig last year Danish museum officials said that an archaeological dig last year has revealed 365 items from the Viking era, including 60 rare coins. (AP Photo/Polfoto/Stokke Brothers)
Read more here

Archaeologists of the Israeli Antiquities Authority work on a 1500-year-old Byzantine era mosaic floor near Kibbutz Beit Kama in the Israeli Negev on May 12 2013. (MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images)
Read more here

Under yet another parking lot in England, the same team that found the final resting place of King Richard III discovered an ancient 1,700-year-old Roman cemetery containing the remains of 13 bodies and various artifacts. (Photo: University of Leicester)
Read more here.

A temple from 300 B.C. discovered in the valley of Oaxaca, Mexico may have been used for human sacrifice. Archeologists found the remains of a human limb along with animal sacrifice remains an obsidian blades in a temple room. (Image courtesy of Charles Spencer and Elsa Redmond)
Read more here.

Amateur excavators discovered large parts of a World War II-era British Bristol Beaufighter near the small northern town of Gusano di Gropparello, Italy. The plane was nicknamed "Whispering Death," and was believed to have crashed in September 1944. (Photo by Charles E. Brown/Royal Air Force Museum/Getty Images)
Read more here.

In the ruins of a Byzantine settlement near Ashkelon, Israel, archeologists found a well-preserved 1,500 lantern that projects crosses on the wall when lit. A large wine press was also found. (DAVID BUIMOVITCH/AFP/Getty Images)
Read more here.

Archeologists examining the ruins of ancient Phrygian city of Hierapolis in Turkey found what they believe to be the Plutonium, which ancient Greeks thought to be the entry to the underworld. The gate is actually a small cave, and derives its association with death from the deadly carbon monoxide gases it emanates. (Photo: Francesco D'Andria)
Read more here.

A large sapphire ring found by metal detector enthusiast Michael Greenhorn in a field near Escrick, England is thought to have originated in the 5th or 6th century and may have even belonged to a king. Greenhorn sold the ring to the Yorkshire Museum for $50,000. (Photo: Kippa Matthews/York Museums Trust)
Read more here.

Glacial melt resulting from global warming will have untold negative consequences for our planet, but for the time being, it is a boon for archeologists, as valuable artifacts emerge from the ice. In south Norway, it helped to reveal a pre-Viking tunic estimated to be from around the year 300 AD. (Photo: Alister Doyle/Reuters)
Read more here.

In separate incidents, two Americans found class rings from U.S. high schools at jewelry shops in Vietnam. One of them, a 1970 Montgomery County High School ring, was returned to the school, but its original owner has yet to be found. (Photo: Dan Cherry/AP)
Read more here.

Archeologists discovered the bones of a donkey from 3,500 years ago in southern Israel. Based on its age, positioning, copper bridle, and location in the sacred precinct of the ancient city of Tel Haror, the scientists speculated that the animal had been a ritually sacrificed. (Photo: PLOS ONE)
Read more here.

A small, angular calcite crystal recovered from a 16th century British shipwreck off the coast of Alderney is suspected to be a legendary Viking 'sunstone,' used to navigate the high seas before the invention of the magnetic compass. (Photo courtesy of the Alderney Museum)
Read more here.

Fossils found on Ellesmere Island in northern Canada were determined to belong to an ancient ancestor of modern camels that stood 9 feet tall and roamed the arctic during a time of global warming. An artists' rendering suggests what the High Arctic Camel may have looked like in its forest environment. (Photo via Julius Csotonyi)
Read more here.

A hat belonging to Korea's greatest emperor, Sejong the Great, was recovered 500 years after being stolen by Japanese raiders. The hat was said to have documents sewn into it that could help explain the origin of the Korean Hangeul alphabet. (Photo: Getty Images)
Read more here.

A French team discovered a 2,300-year-old graveyard near Troyes, France, containing the remains of Gallic warriors and women. (FRANCOIS NASCIMBENI/AFP/Getty Images)
Read more here.

Archeologists found eleven skeletons in a pre-Hispanic tomb at the Huaca Tupac Amaru B site, just feet from Peru's national soccer stadium in Lima. The remains were buried on a bed of woven reeds and tied in braided rattan. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)
Read more here.

A Viennese archeologist claims to have discovered the remains of Arsinoe IV, sister to the infamous Cleopatra. She says the remains were found in Ephesus, where Arsinoe was said to have died, but others say there is no hard evidence to back up the claims. (Photo: University of Dundee)
Read more here.

Archeologists in Luxor unearthed a pyramid that once topped the tomb of Khay, the vizier of Ramses II. (Photo: KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images)
Read more here.

Researchers in the Caucasus Mountains found a 2,200-year-old necropolis containing the remains of a warrior, replete with weapons, gold jewelry, iron mail, three horses, a cow, and a wild boar. (Photo Courtesy Valentina Mordvintseva)
Read more here.

For four decades, the original cast stone version of the Marine Corps Memorial statute of soldiers raising the American flag over Iwo Jima was hidden under a tarp in the backyard of its sculptor, Felix de Weldon. In 1990, World War II buff Rodney Brown discovered the statute and procured it from de Weldon, and in 2013 it was sold at auction. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Read more here.

Critics cast doubt on the claim that a mummified skull found in a retired collecter's attic belonged to French King Henri IV. The skull was used to create a 3D model of what Henri's face looked like. (AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)
Read more here.

The suitcase of a World War I-era nurse was found in a cupboard in the psychology department at the University of Abertay Dundee. The suitcase, which belonged to Margaret Maule, was filled with memorabilia such as a diary and photographs, and it remains a mystery how it the suitcase ended up at the University. (Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
Read more here.

An ancient temple believed to be about 5,000 years old was discovered at the archaeological site of El Paraiso. If the date is confirmed, it would be among the oldest sites in the world. (ERNESTO BENAVIDES/AFP/Getty Images)
Read more here.

A sarcophagus believed to belong to a five-year-old was uncovered by Spanish archeologists while searching the tomb of Djehuty, an important official of Queen Hatshepsut. (Photo: KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images)
Read more here.

An archeological excavation under a parking lot in Leicester turned up the remains of King Richard III, the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty. (AP Photo/ University of Leicester)
Read more here.

81 gold goins dating back to the 1600s were discovered beneath the floorboards of a Irish pub in Carrick-on-Suir after a building fire. The find was considered one of the most important in Ireland's history, and the coins were turned over to the National Museum. (South Tipperary Museum/PA)
Read more here.

Seized by the Nazis in 1938 from a Jewish man on the orders of Hitler's Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, then held behind the Iron Curtain in Communist East Berlin, thousands of rare posters are finally back in the hands of collector Hans Sachs' family. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Read more here.

An extremely rare copy of a work by fourth century Chinese calligraphy legend Wang Xizhi has been unearthed in Japan, the first such discovery in four decades. (AP Photo/Tokyo National Museum)
Read more here.

Ancient manuscripts or Afghan Genizah discovered inside caves in a Taliban stronghold in northern Afghanistan provided the first physical evidence of a vibrant Jewish community that thrived in that region a thousand years ago. (AP Photo/The National Library of Israel, HO)
Read more here.

Police in northern Greece say they recovered more than 600 marble headstones and other fragments from Jewish graves destroyed during the Nazi occupation in World War II. (AP Photo/Nikolas Giakoumidis)
Read more here.

A British pensioner came across an encrypted World War II message strapped to the remains of a dead pigeon. (AP Photo/Royal Pigeon Racing Association )
Read more here.

The Swedish Military found the wreckage of a Soviet submarine lost during World War II in the Baltic Sea, seven decades after it sank. (Youtube)
Read more here.

Chinese archeologists in the central city of Xi’an discovered the ancient ruins of a massive palace complex at the tomb of China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang. (AP Photo)
Read more here.

Spanish authorities unveil shipwreck treasure worth an estimated $500 million from the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes gallon which sank off Portugal's Atlantic in 1804. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)
Read more here.

Remarkable internment camp letters dating back to World War II is found at a former pharmacy in Denver. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
Read more here.

Located on the Syria-Turkey border, the ancient city of Karkemish is the scene of extensive excavations against a backdrop of raging conflict. (AP Photo/Joint Turco-Italian Archaeological Expedition, File)
Read more here.

In a rare milestone, French archeologists dug up a near complete skeleton of a mammoth along the Changis-sur-Marne riverbanks near Paris. (AP Photo/Denis Gliksman/Inrap.)
Read more here.

Belarus oversaw the excavation and burial of 110 Napoleonic soldiers who died in a major battle in 1812 against the Russian army. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Read more here.

Archaeologists uncovered the tomb of an early Mayan ruler, complete with rich jade jewelry and decoration at the Tak'alik Ab'aj temple site in Guatemala. (AP Photo/Tak'alik Ab'aj Archaeological Project)
Read more here.

Archeologists dug up as many as 140 World War II Spitfire fighter planes in Myanmar. (AP Photo)
Read More Here

Mexican archaeologists dug up the largest number of skulls ever found in one offering at the most sacred temple of the Aztec empire. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)
Read more here.

An 11-year-old Russian boy stumbled upon a well-preserved mammoth estimated to be 30,000 years old in northern Russia. (AP Photo/Sergei Gorbunov, International Mammoth Committee in Russia, HO)
Read more here.

Vietnamese farmers found a grave containing the remains of at least 20 communist soldiers killed during the Vietnam War. (HOANG DINH NAM/AFP/Getty Images)
Read more here.

Archaeologists unearthed remnants of what they believe is a 1,000-year-old village on a jungle-covered mountaintop in the Philippines. (TED ALJIBE/AFP/GettyImages)
Read more here.

The a 17th century Vasa warship, which was raised nearly intact from Stockholm's harbor, has become one of the country's top tourist attractions. (AP Photo/Scanpix Sweden, Anders Wiklund, File)
Read more here.

Archeologists say they have found the long lost grave (and possible remains) of King Richard III. (AP Photo/ University of Leicester)
Read more here.

The long lost wreckage of an Air India plane crash in 1966 was found on the slopes beneath Mont Blanc. (AP Photo/Arnaud Christmann/OHM)
Read More Here

Children found six ancient Buddha statues which are believed to be around 1,000 years old while bathing in a newly dug pond in Khleng Por. (Photo: AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Read more here.

Norwegians opened a 100-years-old mysterious package which was handed over to administrators in 1912 with the message that its contents would "benefit and delight future generations." (Photo: VG TV)
Click here to find out what the package included.

Ex-Navy pilot Bob Besal survived a mid-air jet collision in 1974 and later became a decorated war hero. Besal discovered that the plane from which he ejected had a happy ending, too -- as a reef at the bottom of the Atlantic. (Photo: Bob Besal/TISIRI)
Read more here.

Scuba divers have found what is believed to be an ancient bronze sculpture of a lion's head along with a complete suit of armor off the coast of Italy near Calabria. (Photo: KSEE24)
Read more here.

A rare military cable that announced the end of U.S. hostilities with Japan during WWII was auctioned for more than $20,000. (AP Photo/Michael Rubinkam)
Read more here.

Archeologist found the skeleton of a young woman surrounded by piles of 1.789 human bones near Mexico City's Templo Mayor. (Photo: AP Photo/INAH)
Read more here.

The propeller of a U.S. Air Force plane that had crashed in Switzerland in November 1946 was found on a glacier in the Bernese Alps. (Photo: AP Photo/Keystone, Gaetan Bally)
Read more here.

Archeology researcher Angela Micol may have identified two sites that could show never-before-seen ancient pyramids in Egypt, all by using Google Earth. (Photo: Angela Micol/Google Earth)
Read more here.

A team of underwater archeologists discovered swords, barrels and chests belonging to the legendary Captain Henry Morgan off the coast of Panama. (Photo: Captain Morgan)
Read more here.

Excavators in Mexico found what they believe to be the 1,300 year-old remains of Mayan prince. (Photo: Uxul Archeological)
Read more here.

Divers located the remains of a German submarine, 70 years after it perished near Nantucket Island. (Photo: AP Photo/U.S. Navy)
Read the story here.

A treasure-hunting company salvaged 48 tons of silver treasure from the sunken cargo ship SS Gairsoppa. A German U-Boat torpedoed the 412-foot British vessel during World War II. (Photo: Odyssey Marine Explorations)
Read the story here.

Researchers found a rare early 16th century map of America by Martin Waldseemueller (the cartographer who named the continent) in an unrelated 19th century book. (Photo: Lukas Barth/DAPD)
Read more here.

Archeologists found a 1000-year-old hoard of gold coins at a famous Crusader battleground in Israel. It was the biggest collection of ancient coins discovered in the country. (Photo: Pavel Shrago, Tel Aviv University Institute of Archaeology)
Read more here.

Pottery fragments found in a cave in South China in June 2012 have been confirmed to be the oldest known pottery in the world. The fragments are 20,000 years old. (AP Photo/Science/AAAS)
Read more here.

A 415-year-old atlas that was stolen by a Swedish librarian a decade ago was found in New York when a map dealer put it up for sale. The Wytfliet Atlas contains some of the earliest maps of the Americas. (Photo: AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Read the story here.

The Alaska National Guard discovered the wreck of a military plane that crashed more than half a century ago. The C-124A Globemaster went down in 1952. More than 50 people died in the crash. (Photo: AP Photo/U.S. Air Force)
Read more here.

French researchers found what is believed to be the oldest pearl in the history of the human world. The Umm al Quwain pearl was discovered in a grave in the United Arab Emirates and is said to be 7.500 years old. (Ken Walton/CNRS)
Read more here.

South Korean archeologists unearthed evidence of East Asia's oldest known farm site. The farming fields may be more than 5,600 years old. (Photo: AP Photo/Cultural Heritage Administration)
Read the story here.

Two English metal detector enthusiasts discovered about 50,000 coins dating back to the Iran age in Bailiwick of Jersey, an island located off the northwest coast of France. (Photo: Orchid Communications)
Read the story here.

Archeologists in Thessaloniki in Greece discovered a section of a Roman road that is believed to be about 1,800 years old. (AP Photo/Nikolas Giakoumidis)
Read more here.

Glass jewelry thought to have been made in the Roman Empire has been found in a very unlikely place -- an ancient Japanese tomb. (AFP)
Read more here.

German archeologist lifted a rare twin-engine JU88 aircraft from WWII from the bottom of the Baltic Sea. (Photo: AP Photo, File)
Read more here.

Archeologists discovered an 800-year-old shipwreck off the coast of Sweden. Lars Einarsson, an underwater archeologist at the Kalmar County museum, said the craft may date back to the year 1250 or 1300. (Photo: farm8.staticflickr.com)
Read more here.

A long-lost report by the doctor who first reached U.S. President Abraham Lincoln after he was shot in 1865 was found in a box at the National Archives. (Alexander Gardner/Getty Images)
Read more here.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this slide incorrectly stated that Lincoln was shot in 1886.

Belgian archeologists dug up the remains of a soldier who is believed to have died during the Battle of Waterloo, nearly 200 eyars ago. "You can almost see him dying," Belgian archeologist Dominique Bosquet told Agence France Presse. (Photo: AFP)
Read more here.

A rare letter by Napoleon Bonaparte written in English in March 1816 was auctioned in 2012. Starting price? A mere $100,000. (Photo: IBTimes)
Read more here.

This giant oyster turned up in the Solent, a strait separating mainland England from the Isle of Wight, according to the Daily Mail, and it dates back 100 million years.
Read more here.

Swedish marine archeologists found the remains what they believed to be the world's oldest fishing traps in the Baltic Sea. One of the baskets was carbon dated and is around 9,000 years old. (Photo: JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP/Getty Images)
Read more here.

Vietnam returned the personal letters of U.S. Army Sgt. Steve Flaherty to U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, on Monday, June 4, 2012. Flaherty was killed in Vietnam in 1969. (Photo: AP File Photo)
Read more here.

Two Roman-era shipwrecks were found in deep water off a western Greek island, challenging the conventional theory that ancient shipmasters stuck to coastal routes rather than risking the open sea on May 29, 2012. (Photo: AP)
Read more here.

A forest ranger found what was believed to be an ejection seat from a B-52 bomber that crashed on a western Maine mountain nearly 50 years ago, killing seven airmen in Greenville, Maine, May 25, 2012. (Photo: AP)
Read more here.

Israeli archaeologists discovered a rare trove of 3,000-year-old jewelry, including a ring and earrings, hidden in a ceramic jug near the ancient city of Megiddo, where the New Testament predicts the final battle of Armageddon, on May 25, 2012. (Photo: AP)
Read more here.

Scientists exploring marine life in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year uncovered a shipwreck site believed to be 200-years-old on May 17, 2012. (Photo: NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program)
Read more here.

12-year-old Emmitt Andersen discovered a piece of orange plastic while beach-combing at Sealion Cove, Alaska, that had been adrift for 33 years. (Photo: James Poulson, Daily Sitka Sentinel/AP)
Read more here.

A World War II airplane belonging to Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) was found in the Sahara Desert nearly 70 years after it crash landed in June 1942. (Photo: Jakub Perka/BNPS)
Read more here.

Unearthed as part of a European history project, a postcard sent during World War I by a wounded Adolf Hitler has brought attention to the earlier years of the German dictator's life -- and to his shortcomings as a speller. (Photo: Europeana 1914-1918)
Read more here.

A new look at a 425-year-old map in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, yielded a tantalizing clue about the fate of the Lost Colony, the settlers who disappeared from North Carolina's Roanoke Island in the late 16th century. (Photo: AP Photo/British Museum)
Read more here.

A Sharpsburg-area farmer is said to have found the human forearm while plowing a field two weeks after the 1862 battle.The arm was donated to The National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick, Md., in January, 2012. The Museum is trying to determine its authenticity. (Photo: AP Photo/Courtesy National Museum of Civil War Medicine)
Read more here.

A U.S. Coast Guard cutter unleashed cannon fire on the abandoned 164-foot Ryou-Un Maru on Thursday, April 12, 2012, ending a journey that began when last year's tsunami dislodged it and set it adrift across the Pacific Ocean. (Photo: AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard)
Read more here.

Enhanced analysis of a photograph taken just months after Earhart's Lockheed Electra plane vanished shows what experts think may be the landing gear of the aircraft protruding from the waters off the remote island of Nikumaroro, in what is now the Pacific nation of Kiribati. This provides a new clue into one of the 20th century's most enduring mysteries, uncovering the fate of American aviator Amelia Earhart, who went missing without a trace over the South Pacific 75 years ago. (Photo: AP/ Saul Loeb, Pool)
Read more here.

First-class passengers aboard the Titanic were offered Eggs Argenteuil, Chicken a la Maryland and fillets of brill on the last day aboard the ship, a menu revealed. (Photo: AP Photo/Tim Ireland/PA Wire)
Read more here.